Karnea, Master of the Black Arts
Story One: Rise to Power
Chapter Two: The Ruins of Schallsea Tower
421 AC
Central Ansalon
New Sea
Schallsea Island
The Barren Hills
Karnea stands at the ruins of her former Tower that she called home for much of her time after her first return to Krynn and her first adventure that led to a foiling of a dangerous plot of the Dragon Queen.
It was her Base of Operations (other than her Demiplane)for nearly twenty years until the Summer of Flame when a legion of Grey Robes tried to attack and invade her Tower. Karnea had a failsafe. Although she treasured her Tower, she could not hold them all off but she had a fail-safe that she loathed to unleash, a hell of a sacrifice.
The Tower was twenty stories tall, with five more levels extending underground. The destruction was caused by the release of a 24HD fire elemental that was trapped in the lowest basement level and used as a heat source, as well as the release of a 24HD water elemental trapped a level above that, which had been used to create all the freshwater for the Tower. When they were released, their corresponding battle with each other resulted in a large explosion that collapsed the tower and killed the Grey Robe invaders.
Some parts of the tower were blown apart, but some sections fell semi-intact on its side. She has long wondered what survived after what she scavenged to power her escape from Krynn in the first year after the Chaos War.
She had wondered about her library, obviously there were a ton of books including a set of her spell books. there are also a lot of "library" books that she would be interested in recovering, due to rarity and expense. Her crystal ball was a special trophy to her, her teleportation chamber would be wonderful to find intact.
She notices that her presence has not gone unnoticed. Barbarians in the distance. Perhaps two generations have been born, grown up, and had a child of their own in the time since she had last been here. They know enough to not approach the ruin and typically they stay away from the barren hills. These might be outcasts.
She begins walking around the ruins, keeping an eye out for her shadows in the distance. She checks to see what looks stable and what may collapse. She begins finding books, these have been left to the elements for forty years, and they practically fall apart in your hands. She barely makes it out, she knows it was a priceless copy. Damn. She ventures deeper into the collapsed section. She sees the twisted remains of her Teleportation chamber, which may be salvageable. She is beginning to get disheartened. She entered another section, it was her study. Impossibly, she finds her crystal ball held by the expertly taxidermized claw of a young white dragon mounted in a heavy steel base. She looks around. Wrought iron Bookcases still hold their book charges via their magical chains. A sigh of relief floods her being. She finds other books around, the ones on the ground are lost, but some of these others have fallen on top of different furniture and survived in this enclosed space. There are a couple of skeletons that are more intact than some of the other bones she has seen scattered around. These look fresh enough to have been in the last couple of years. No robes. Just scavengers, maybe sorcerers of some kind. The spells on her books were intact enough to kill anyone who touched one of her spell books.
The sun is running into the evening and she decides to call it a night, she casts a spell she learned on another world: Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion. 7th level conjuration, abjuration.
She brings the things that she found inside that she can carry with her safely at this time. She has also brought food with her to sate her hunger for real.
She looks over the things she collected. These are priceless editions that she had expected to find. Useful as they are, she still has yet to come across some of the most important tomes, besides her spell books.
She falls asleep for the night.
Karnea awakens and readies her spells for the day. She wants to be protected if her watchers decide to try anything, but she also is going to memorize levitation a few times, along with Dig to see if there is anything more salvageable.
After many hours, Karnea Teleports to the Port of Schallsea to get food in the Cozy Heath Inn and pick up food she can take with her later that will keep. She will need more water.
He almost can’t bring herself to check the port and see if her ship, the Venture is still there. Forty years.
It has been brought on shore. It is listing slightly. It is not sailable at present.
It’s been stripped of most of its rigging and stripped of anything not nailed down. It looks like no one got under the protective barrier Karnea had in place to house her spelljammer helm. She does not know what would happen if the ship was repaired and if would be allowed to leave the crystal sphere and return. Karnea has doubts about whether she can take off the planet. Somehow, she thinks this thing offends the Highgod. She does not know that for sure, but she is not up to testing the theory at this time.
She curses to herself, she did not convert currencies before coming back. She is going to take a loss on the exchange rate.
She gets back and sees her shadows have been through here, but they have stopped here, not venturing any further into the ruins, tracks are leading away. Karnea is not entirely sure how to read the situation. They left tracks, that is strange enough. They left tracks leading away, that too is unexpected. She casts Detect Life.
It is 10’ per level She detects out to 250’ search for life. She is alone.
Over the next couple of days, Karnea clears the rubble and debris and uncovers many trinkets and special items that survived. She has lost 24 % of her library of books which was a complete loss due to fire damage, water damage, or forty years of weather exposure-related damage. 46 % in a condition that is salvageable, readable enough to transcribe to another book. What is left has survived completely. She found the Tomes, they have some damage but survive for the most part. She knows it was a sacrifice, she lost a lot. Thank Nuitari that much of it survived in some form. The more she has looked at the teleportation chamber, the base hads survived intact. It might be salvageable after all. She finds a large bag of gemstones and rings under a bit of rubble. In another area, she finds a chest that is wizard-locked. She remembers the pass word readily and it springs open. The Chest is full of steel and gemstones, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, gold bars, and platinum bars.
The Next day she speaks with the Harbor master about refurbishing her ship and making it sea-worthy enough to reach Caergoth. She will also need a crew. She pays him a large amount to make sure she has his attention.
She stays for a couple of days at the Cozy Hearth, reading through what has survived. She decides what to do. She moves all of her valuables with her and teleports to a grove in a forest. Leaving her valuables for the present, she starts walking in the direction she thinks the house is in. She is met by the largest brown bear she has ever seen. It looks at her for a few moments and then lazily turns around and starts walking along in front of you.
Karnea takes this as a sign to follow, which she does for a short way before she is met by an old familiar face. Talidaar walks from a trail and welcomes Karnea to the Forest with a smile.
“Hello, old friend. Don’t mind this guy, this is Ben," gesturing to the big bear, " He’s getting up there in age. Sorry if he startled you." How have you been? How's Aravis, gods? How long have you been back?
“I am well old friend. Aravis is well, still on Soreel. I have only just returned this past week. I have just been to Schallsea to see what was left of the Tower. I have come to ask a favor of you." Karnea replies.
"Of course," Talidaar flatly states.
"I ask that you to hold onto some of my belongings I have gathered from the Tower. I have yet to secure a base of yet, I will not keep them here long."
“Of course. Nobody will touch it. Keep it here as long as you like.”
“My thanks.” Karnea replies thankfully." She is absolutely sure this is the right course of action, her gut only confirms that nothing has changed between them. She knew she could rely on this old bond more than just about anyone else on this world.
Talidaar debates, then makes the offer. “I'll put it out there even if you won't take me up on it, but we can put you up here, we have a laboratory you can use, There has been no Kender around here in years. The young ones won't get under your feet. Just till you get on you feet. won’t you come up to the house, Lashia is making supper.”
Even as Karnea’s stomach growls, He knows full well she won't take him up on it, but it is a generous gesture, that Karnea politely refuses. She says she has things to do. She says she will return soon, Karnea casts Tenser's Floating Disc and moves her things to a storage room at the Dae Dyrnastaerynfalos Family Keep. Once her belongings are stored. Karnea tells Talidaar she will return when she has a better picture of what's going on in the world.
They shake hands and then, Karnea teleports away -
She returns to the Port of Schallsea watches over the Venture and sees that it gets refurbished with rigging and sails. She makes she the workers know who they are working for and that they should not make her wait any longer than she has to. She is fair but stern.
She pays for the repairs and the ship is brought out to sea. She is crewed and ready to set sail. Karnea takes in the short voyage to get her sea legs after such a long time. The ship sails with minimal issues and gets her to her destination of Caergoth.
Here, she asks the Harbormaster to point her in the direction of somebody who can make sure her ship is seaworthy. Once she finds the right expert, she sets him to look over her Ship.
After giving it a lot of thought, Karnea decides it is time to go to Wayreth.
